Ex-planning chief’s rose-tinted view of Croydon developments

It appears that Heather Cheesbrough, Croydon Council’s former “director of planning and sustainable regeneration”, has been busy trying to rewrite history since leaving her £130,000-plus job earlier this month.

New LinkedIn profile: but same old half-truths from former planning chief Heather Cheesbrough

An internal council memo gave the reason for Cheesbrough’s departure as the desire to take  a “career break”.

It’s not clear how long the career break was supposed to last, but since she stepped out of the exit door of Fisher’s Folly for a final time, 57-year-old Cheesbrough has used social media to try to polish the turd that is her record of nine disastrous years in charge of planning in Croydon.

Cheesbrough joined Croydon Council in 2016, as the first and most significant appointment made by Jo Negrini after she had become chief executive and was seeking her own replacement at director level.

Cheesbrough’s somewhat high-handed approach towards the borough’s residents and councillors saw her swiftly become a figure of public distrust and anger second only to “Negreedy” herself. Continue reading

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Raggio di Sole, handmade pizzas made to order, South Croydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Warlingham annual Classic Car Show, Hamsey Green, July 20

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Oval Tavern’s Sutton to take on little pub under the Flyover

Esther Sutton, one of Croydon’s most respected business-owners, will next week be taking the keys to The Royal Standard pub, one of Croydon’s hidden gems and which boasts the “most Croydon of beer gardens”.

Flying high: The Royal Standard is about to get a new landlord

“The Standard will still be The Standard,” Sutton told Inside Croydon, “and The Oval will still be The Oval.”

Sutton has been in charge of The Oval Tavern since late 2013 (she had previously run The Green Dragon on Croydon High Street).

The Addiscombe pub has been transformed, with its offer of good, reasonably priced food, decent beers and live music on almost every night of the week. Where else could you get to enjoy an electric didgeridoo performed on stage?

The Oval really came into its own during the covid lockdown in 2020, when Sutton and her team deployed the pub’s kitchens to make wholesome meals for the isolated and vulnerable in the local community, as well as using a cargo bike to ferry the hot food over to Mayday Hospital for their hard-pressed doctors, nurses and staff.

The acquisition of the licence for The Royal Standard, Sutton is careful to stress, is an expansion, rather than a move, of her pub managing enterprises. Continue reading

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New shared reading group to begin at New Addington Library

The Reader, a national charity, is starting a shared reading group in Croydon next week.

Worth sharing: the shared reading group begins at New Addington Library next week

Run by a local volunteer, the group will meet every Tuesday at 2pm, starting April 22, at New Addington Library. The group is open to everyone, it is free to all and meetings last for one hour.

At shared reading groups, the trained “Reader Leader” selects stories and poems to read aloud together. Everyone is welcome to share how the words make them feel, as well as their thoughts, ideas and memories. “There is no pressure to talk or read aloud, it’s fine to just come along and listen,” according to the charity.

“Everyone experiences what is read in their own way, but the shared language found in literature can help us to understand ourselves – and others – better.

“Long-lasting friendships develop, health and wellbeing are positively improved. We offer a warm welcome to everyone.” Continue reading

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Rollo Markee and The Tailshakers, The Oval Tavern, Apr 20

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Labour Party ends suspension of ex-council leader Newman

CROYDON IN CRISIS: After more than four years, the two men who presided over what at the time was the biggest financial collapse in the history of local authorities in England have been allowed back into their political party. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Happy days: Tony Newman (right) pictured with MP Steve Reed OBE before his suspension 

The Labour Party has ended its suspension of Tony Newman, the controversial and discredited former leader of Croydon Council.

Inside Croydon also understands that the similar “administrative suspension” that has been in place since February 2021 on Simon Hall, the councillor for Fieldway ward and Newman’s cabinet member for finance in the six years leading to Croydon’s financial collapse in 2020, has also been removed.

According to sources close to the Labour Party, “You can’t keep someone suspended forever.” Continue reading

Posted in Brick by Brick, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, David Evans, Fieldway, Jason Cummings, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, New Addington, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Rowenna Davis, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, Steve Reed MP, The Penn Report, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Police search continues for third man at Surrey Street killing

A £10,000 reward is on offer for information that leads to the conviction of Jordan Vincent, after two of the killers of Rijkaard Siafa are handed life sentences for murder

Life sentences: David Walcott (left) and Rammon Mali were each given 27 years in jail for the murder of Rijkaard Siafa

Two of the three men accused of the vicious murder of 22-year-old Rijkaard Siafa on Surrey Street market last April were today handed life sentences. Following the Old Bailey hearing, the Metropolitan Police renewed their public appeal to locate the third suspect.

It was a sunny spring evening last year when David Walcott and Rammon Mali, together with a third man, strolled down Surrey Street where traders were finishing up after a busy market day, then crossed Croydon High Street and popped into the Spread Eagle pub and calmly ordered three pints of Guinness. They paid with a £20 note. Continue reading

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What a load of old rubbish! And that’s just inside the Town Hall

There’s only a handful of opportunities each year for the public to question the way their council is being run, but as ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, discovered when watching last night’s full council meeting, it is increasingly obvious that the elected Mayor and council directors prefer not to provide any answers

It has often been said that Croydon Council is a bit rubbish. But that was taken to extraordinary levels in the Town Hall Chamber last night, where elected Mayor Jason Perry, and we must assume the senior executives who actually run the local authority, went to great lengths to avoid being answerable to the people they claim to serve – Croydon residents.

Lots of hot air: the latest full council meeting was an exercise in avoidance of questions

With important, campaigning petitions signed by thousands of residents being ignored, fobbed off or just lost in council spam folders, this rare opportunity for the public to question the council – under Mayor Perry there are just four meetings of full council per year – saw much time devoted to fly-tipping

The substantive business of the night kicked off with a public question, about moving to a plant-based food only policy, with the questioner, a Mr Mehta, highlighting the “noxious gases” from animals.

The Town Hall Chamber is certainly no stranger to hot air, and as last night’s meeting wore on, the topic of noxious smells and waste appeared to be paramount. Continue reading

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Andrew Fisher, Callton Young, Christopher Herman, Claire Bonham, Council Tax, Crime, Croydon Council, Fly tipping, Heathfield House, Jason Cummings, Katherine Kerswell, Live Facial Recognition cameras, Mayor Jason Perry, Refuse collection, Ria Patel, Rowenna Davis, Simon Fox, Stuart King, Veolia, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Trading standards ‘postcode lottery’ is hitting Croydon hard

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Research by Which? magazine has found trading standards teams at councils such as Croydon’s to be  ‘stretched to the point where it’s impossible for them to effectively carry out essential work’

Rare sight: cuts to council funding means lower levels of consumer protection from trading standards

There’s a good reason that Croydon Council’s trading standards department takes 18 months to shut down a dodgy vape store that is blatantly flogging off contraband tobacco. And that’s because, after years of cuts to council staff, our borough’s trading standards department is woefully understaffed.

That’s according to research conducted with local authorities across the country by the Consumer Association, which found that Croydon has just 1.94 trading standards staff per 100,000 of population (Croydon has close to 400,000 residents, so you do the math…).

Earlier this week, Inside Croydon reported how the council had ordered the closure of the Stop and Shop vape store at 79 Church Street, after it had been reported in November 2023 by a resident who bought a packet of cigarettes suspected that they were counterfeit. Continue reading

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Easier to get appointment as 253 GPs recruited in London

New figures show an extra 253 GPs have been recruited by London practices since October 1.

The recruitment boost, part of the government’s Plan for Change, aims to make it easier for people to get an appointment with their GP, ease pressure on GPs, cut waiting lists and “bring back the family GP”.

Other changes to GP services include a requirement for surgeries to allow patients to request appointments online throughout working hours, freeing phone lines for those who want to book over the phone, and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on medical need. Continue reading

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82% of Labour members back Davis as 2026 Mayor candidate

The 2026 Croydon Mayoral contest began in earnest today when Labour finally got round to naming their chosen candidate
EXCLUSIVE by WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor

The chosen one: Rowenna Davis polled 82% of Labour members’ votes

To the surprise of absolutely nobody – except perhaps Manju Shahul-Hameed – Rowenna Davis has today been named as Labour’s candidate to stand in the Croydon Mayor election next May.

The long-delayed selection process run by London Labour for party members in the borough to choose who from among their number would be their candidate in the 2026 elections experienced further delays this week. Online voting closed on Monday, but there was then a 48-hour further wait to allow postal votes to arrive.

The Labour regional organisers (we use the phrase in the loosest possible sense) seemed to have completely overlooked the potential for digital exclusion of those without smartphones, emails or connections to the interweb, and so had to retro-fit postal voting to their process at the last minute. Continue reading

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Broad Green, Croydon Council, Manju Shahul Hameed, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis, Tony Newman, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Antic demise claims another high street pub in South Norwood

Last orders: South Norwood’s high street pub is among several affected by Antic pubs going into administration last year

Another Croydon pub has closed, with no obvious signs at this stage that another hospitality company or brewery will step in to re-open the Shelverdine Goathouse on South Norwood High Street.

The Shelverdine was one of almost 50 pubs and bars operated by the Antic pub group which went into administration last summer.

In mid-March, according to one of iC’s loyal readers, the property’s landlords closed on the lease. “Other Antic pubs locally continue to trade as normal,” our reader notes. Continue reading

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10,000 sign Liberty petition against facial recognition cameras

Jason Perry’s council might not be allowing open discussion or questions on things that matter to the public, but Liberty, the widely respected human rights organisation, has got nearly 10,000 signatures on a petition that calls for more and better checks and balances over the use of Live Facial Recognition cameras.

The Met Police announced last month that it is to install permanent LFR cameras on North End and London Road, potentially scanning tens of thousands of people every single day, despite there being no established precedent for the use of such cameras in law.

With the Met under increasing financial pressures and preparing to axe thousands of back-office and frontline staff, going all Robocop appears to be their solution to their dilemma, without undue concern for the principles of law (innocent until proven guilty, anyone?) or public liberties. Continue reading

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Earth Day renews determination of Let’s Go Zero campaign

For this Earth Day next Tuesday, April 22, Let’s Go Zero will be celebrating the power of working together to take climate action with schools around the country, boosted by £80million of government money to encourage schools to install solar panels on the roofs of their buildings.

Solar scheme: Let’s Go Zero advisors support schools to explore options for renewable energy

Let’s Go Zero is the national campaign for schools, colleges and nurseries to be zero carbon by 2030. The nationwide campaign has directly supported schools in delivering an estimated 13,610 tonnes of CO2 savings, with planned actions set to save a further 68,867 tonnes. Together, that’s the same impact as 266,464 individual passenger flights between London and New York.

Nearly 6,000 schools are now signed up to the Let’s Go Zero campaign – all committing to be on a journey to zero carbon – involving more than 2million young people and 302,000 members of staff. Continue reading

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It’s Easter – so obviously, Whitgift Centre goes all Jurassic Park

Croydon’s Centrale and Whitgift shopping centres are staging a Dino Eggstravaganza this Easter weekend, what they call “a thrilling, prehistoric-themed experience for dino-lovers of all ages”.

Fun-tastic: drop in for a cuppa with a ‘life-sized’ dinosaur at the Whitgift Centre this weekend

So, full of the meaning of Easter, then…

From tomorrow, Thursday April 17, through to Bank Holiday Monday April 21 (but excluding Easter Sunday), “visitors can discover dino eggs, meet a life-sized dinosaur, enjoy theatrical storytelling and enter egg-citing competitions!”

Geddit? “Egg-citing”!

Dinosaurs and a vast, increasingly empty, shopping mall. Someone in Westfield’s marketing department didn’t think this through. Or, with the Whitgift Centre evidently closer to extinction every day, maybe they did…

The organisers fail to say what they mean by “a life-sized dinosaur”, since most agreed scientific records suggest that the smallest dinosaur discovered so far is Oculudentavis khaungraae, an avian dinosaur found preserved in amber that is so small it possibly weighed as little as 2gm, and was about the size of a tiny, little bee hummingbird
. So that “life-sized” dinosaur, then? Continue reading

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Croydon BID, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Build costs soar to £200m for new main stand at Selhurst Park

Palace’s new stand could take a decade to pay for itself, according to latest reports

The Eagles have landed: the estimated cost of building the new stand has risen from £75m in 2017 to £200m

Soaring development costs hitting an estimated £200million and continuing uncertainty over the role of a previous board member threaten to further delay the build of Crystal Palace’s spaceship-shaped new stand at Selhurst Park, according to reports today.

The club got final planning approval on its revised scheme last August, and the intention had been to start construction work once the current Premier League season reaches its conclusion next month.

But reports suggest that the project – announced in 2017 when the likely cost was around £75million – has been hit by steepling increases in construction materials and costs in the five years since covid. So cost estimates of £150million in 2022 have now increased by one-third.

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Our four MPs are doing nothing to try to stop carnage in Gaza

War crimes: Gaza has been left devastated, its people killed, maimed or left to starve. Meanwhile, our elected representatives do nothing

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Are our borough’s four MPs doing the ‘right thing’? DAVID WHITE doesn’t think so

“Israel has been genociding the Palestinians for months now. The point is why no one stops the carnage. This is the question”

These words of Francesca Albanese, the UN Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, sum up a position which is blindingly obvious to most people, but which seems to be lost on Croydon’s MPs: Steve Reed (Labour, Streatham and Croydon North), Sarah Jones (Labour, Croydon West), Chris Philp (Tory, Croydon South) and Natasha Irons (Labour, Croydon East).

We have all seen the television coverage showing how Israel’s onslaught against the Palestinians, particularly in Gaza but also the occupied West Bank, has played out. More than 50,000 in Gaza are dead, including at least 15,000 children. Medics have been killed, 200 journalists have been killed. Virtually the whole of Gaza has been flattened.

Almost the entire population of Gaza has been driven from their homes, often on multiple occasions. Nowhere is safe for them. Many have been bombed in their makeshift tents. Continue reading

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, David White, Natasha Irons, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon charity has it in the bag with Knightbridge donations

The Garwood Foundation, the South Croydon charity which runs a special school, day centres and residential care, has just bagged an extra £800 towards its latest fund-raising appeal, thanks to a Knightsbridge influencer who staged a “secret” charity shop designer handbag drop.

Fashion conscious: Hanushka Toni with the designer bags she donated for the Garwood Foundation

Hanushka Toni, of Sellier Knightsbridge, luxury goods re-sellers with half-a-million followers, chose the Garwood charity shop on Selsdon Road for their latest “shop drop” at the end of last month.

This is how it all worked: with the details of date, time and location not released until just before the drop, it was a race to be there and be in with a chance of winning one of four designer bags. As the queue formed up along Selsdon Road, those turning up were given a raffle ticket, and four winners drawn at random.

The designer handbags up for grabs included Louis Vuitton, Chloé, Alexander McQueen and a vintage Chanel. Retailing at several hundred pounds each, and in the case of the vintage Chanel even more, the holders of the winning tickets could purchase the designer bags for £100 each or the vintage Chanel for £500, with proceeds going to the Garwood Foundation’s Space to Thrive appeal. Continue reading

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Plenty of springtime volunteer opportunities for Wildlife Friends

Animal welfare charity the RSPCA is inviting people to join a million-strong movement by becoming a Wildlife Friend.

Influencer: Esme Higgs went along to a RSPCA wildlife centre in Sussex to find out what Wildlife Friends can do

By volunteering and taking action for animals in their gardens, open spaces and communities, the Wildlife Friend volunteers will not only be helping wildlife but will be ensuring that the RSPCA’s frontline staff have more time to focus on tackling cruelty and neglect.

Last year there was a 35% increase in the number of wild animals admitted to the RSPCA’s four wildlife centres. And the charity fielded 40,003 incidents relating to wild animals in 2024, including 5,353 in Greater London.

“The need to increase awareness of the problems faced by wildlife and how best it can be protected has never been greater,” the charity says. Continue reading

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Fairfield panto star Mia Overfield picks up national stage award

Mia Overfield, star of the Fairfield Halls’ 2024-2025 panto, Snow White and the Five Dwarves, has been named as the winner of the Barbara Windsor Award for Best Principal Lead at this year’s National Pantomime Awards.

Winning performance: Mia Overfield picking up her Panto Awards gong on Sunday night

Overfield, who has a string of stage successes to her name, played Snow White opposite the Wicked Queen played by Croydon’s Kellie Shirley (EastEnders and Casualty) on stage at the Ashcroft Theatre through December and into January, in what is the biggest show of the year for the Croydon arts venue.

The “gloriously glittery” Panto Awards were presented on Sunday night in Woking, where UK Productions, the company behind the Croydon pantomime, picked up three awards. Continue reading

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South Norwood man charged with murder of Sarah Reynolds

A man from South Norwood is to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court today charged with the murder on Saturday of Sarah Reynolds.

Victim: Sarah Reynolds was found by police in the early hours of Saturday

The murder investigation was launched after Metropolitan Police officers were called to an address on Towpath Way at 4.55am on Saturday, April 12.

Police have named the victim as Reynolds, 58, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her family are being supported by specialist officers.

Earlston Bennet, 57, of Towpath Way, was charged with murder yesterday.

“It is believed Bennet was known to Sarah and detectives are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident,” the Met said. Continue reading

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Protests mount as Perry rejects petitions with 5,000 signatures

CROYDON IN CRISIS: MP Natasha Irons says that ‘democracy is being undermined by Croydon Council’, as the Conservative-controlled authority is refusing to debate the situation at the carers’ centre on George Street and the on-off-on-again sale of listed building Heathfield House.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Anti-democratic, and incompetent: Jason Perry is trying to block two large protest petitions

Executive Mayor Jason Perry has been trying to stop two petitions, which have been signed by thousands of local people, from being presented and discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of full council at the Town Hall.

The council’s efforts to block democratic debate have included officials lying to a local MP, disallowing thousands of signatures as being somehow “invalid”, and using a simple excuse of straightforward incompetence.

The petitions were raised calling for a halt to the sale of Heathfield House and for the Croydon Carers Centre on George Street to be saved from closure.

The Heathfield House petition has more than 2,400 verified signatures, the Carers Centre petition has been signed almost 2,600 times.

Under the council’s own rules, it takes just 500 signatures “from local people to trigger a public petition debate at a full council meeting”. And the council now even has it written in to its constitution that “electronic/online petitions may be accepted, provided the council can verify that the signatories are ‘Local People’ in the same manner as paper petitions”. Continue reading

Posted in Adult Social Care, Carers First, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon East, Heathfield House, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Natasha Irons, Ria Patel, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, Stuart King | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Council took 18 months to shut down counterfeit tobacco shop

The council has closed down a shop in the town centre for illegal sales of tobacco and vapes – 18 months after a member of the public raised the alarm over counterfeit goods.

Stopped shop: the tobacco and vapes shop had counterfeit goods hidden away

Stop and Shop at 79 Church Street was reported to the council in November 2023, after a resident buying a packet of cigarettes suspected that they were counterfeit.

The trading standards team at the cash-strapped council undertook a number of test purchases and raids, each time seizing sizeable quantities of illicit goods. “The business failed to take measures to operate within the law and was deemed to be intentionally selling illegal products,” the council said. Continue reading

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Greens name Underwood as 2026 Croydon Mayor candidate

Peter Underwood, the Green Party’s Croydon mayoral candidate in 2022, is to be the Green candidate in 2026, too.

Campaigner: Peter Underwood is one of the more recognisable figures in Croydon politics

The Greens, who won their first two council seats in Croydon in 2022, made the announcement last night, leaving Labour as the last party in Croydon to yet pick their candidate for the mayoral election in May 2026.

Underwood is among the more recognisable figures in Croydon politics – though he has yet to win elected office. In 2022, Underwood was one of three Green candidates for the council in Fairfield ward, but he was the only one not to win a Town Hall seat. In the mayoral election, Underwood finished fifth, gaining 6.5% of first preference votes. Continue reading

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Croydon Greens, Fairfield, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments